Chapter Thirty-One: Reliving
Zenith found it humorous how Alexandria Feloncia narrated his near death ordeal as a tale of bravery and friendship by the next day.
As always, Zenith noticed Alez said nothing and went along with Alexandria's antics and praises of himself. When others students would ask if Alexandria's words were true, he accepted, not clearing the exaggerations.
The students would be surprised and praise Alexandria for holding up against a Dark Mage till Sir Zenith arrived.
"He was low on essence yesterday yet he speaks like he actually landed a hit on Escanor." Zenith clicked his tongue. The young boy really liked the attention.
He and Alez had also said nothing about Escanor's kidnap to neither their parents nor school, and Zenith felt they were too lenient with Escanor but didn't persuade them to report him.
Zenith stood outside the class, watching. He had told the students to arrive early but three students hadn't arrived yet, including the two who fixed the gate.
Last night, he had used a telephone to call the agency and asked for a phone and payment to be made to the two students, but the agency said that they needed the phone numbers of their parents or the students' bank accounts. Too much stress.
The two students, as well as Layla Herbert, hadn't arrived yet. Nephis and her twin, Nero, were already in class so Zenith wondered what went wrong, even Nephis had no clue and said Layla wasn't home.
Twelve minutes till class starts, Zenith decided to share the reanimation with or without the three students. It's a special thing for class and not the actual class so they wouldn't be missing anything.
Also, the skills in the reanimation wouldn't help Layla as she's non-combatant and it might not also help those two who had a 'forbidden use' magic.
Beforehand, Zenith had already released the white ball of energy that held the reanimation he produced. "Sit down. Let's start." He told the class.
Those standing quickly ran to their seats. Nephis turned to Layla's empty seat and sighed.
The white ball of energy materialized in front of the students and slowly broke down into smaller parts, small twelve parts. Zenith took back three and gestured for the rest to go towards the class.
The students stared at the balls of energy as it flew to their heads and slowly soaked in, they felt nothing till all the balls of energy had a host and a whirring sound was heard as if something was being registered.
The balls of energy were modified and edited memories of Zenith and for the students to relive it, the energy had to become their own memory.
Alterations had to be made to fit with each student. They would feel like they experienced what happened and while the result would be same, their reactions to it wouldn't.
Some students stared at space while reliving the memory. Zenith paced in front of the class, looking out for the other students. He needed to get the payment for the gate out of his mind or he'd forget again.
"Sir Zenith?"
"Howdy, Sir!"
Zenith paused and exhaled in relief, they arrived before he forgot. "Your names are Frederic Millan and Felix William, am I right?" He stared at the two.
They were twin brothers with blonde hair on small faces, he had thought they were girls when he saw them the first time in class till he learnt their names.
The oldest, Frederic, raised his hands. "We are late because my oldest sister took the car to break up with her boyfriend early this morning. Then she stayed at Lan River Bridge to cry for two hours."
"TMI." Felix nudged his brother. "Sorry, sir."
Zenith stretched a book and pen to them. "Write down your account numbers. You two broke the 'forbidden use' stamp to repair the gate for me, didn't you?"
Felix hid his hand behind him, and Zenith understood he did it alone, even his brother had a look of disbelief and betrayal.
"You were breaking rules without me? Not cool. Now, you'd be punished alone!" Frederic yelled.
Zenith found it hard to believe that his problem wasn't breaking rules but breaking rules 'alone'. These backbenchers really lived life dangerously.
"W-Well, I just happen to have seen Sir Zenith pass when I went to the restroom, it was a quick fix so I didn't think anyone saw it." Felix tried to explain.
"The importance of a 'forbidden use' stamp is that you don't use it even when no one's watching, around the school. But, I don't plan to punish you." Zenith tapped the book. "Write down your payment and go in."
The boys were surprised by that. 'Forbidden use' stamp usually generated a tough punishment and because they broke the rule a lot, along with Tomah, they usually got punished a lot together.
"I don't want to be paid." Felix frowned. "I said it's a quick fix, right? It's nothing. Just helping my teacher."
Zenith was quiet, then shook his head. "You shouldn't get used to doing things for free, you know."
The boy looked down, then smirked. "You shouldn't get used to doing something for a reward."
Zenith definitely saw that coming. He smiled and pushed the boy and his twin into the class and released two balls of energy to follow them.
"It's the reanimation. Sit still and concentrate."
They hurried to their seats excitedly and sat still, while it seeped into their skulls. A whirring sound was made and then they stared into the distance.
Zenith leaned on the door, looking at the entrance and waiting for the last student. He remembered her report that stated that she was an orphan.
He wondered who took care of her when she returned from school, she looked quite unreliable to be living alone in an apartment while attending school.
How did that even work? Who paid her rent? Feeding? Upkeep? Did she really stay alone?
Zenith shook his head. Maybe, as a teacher, he should care a little more about the affairs of his students before something bad happens.
He already had an agency with few workers by the time his parents had died so he wasn't alone. Actually, he barely felt anything when his parents had died and it was turned to a social event.
A depressed girl like Layla could have taken the death of her only parent hardly and now lean on Nephis and Nero for familial bonds.
Zenith peeked into the class and saw that none had finished reliving the reanimation. There's no way it'd be hard to bear, right? They were reliving as him and he had easily won so there's nothing to worry about.
He noticed Lilian muttering some words and inched close to her. "What now? How is it—"
"S-S-Scary… S-Save.. me…"
Zenith raised a brow and looked at the other students, some had horrified looks and others looked straight up traumatized. The rest looked blank or pleased.
"Could I have… thought too highly of these kids? How was that scary?" he stared at them in disappointment.